Michael Gove takes blame for Conservative leadership spat with Boris Johnson
'No matter how many times you rerun the movie, it has the same ending: me driving 100mph and crashing into a brick wall,' says Mr Gove
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Your support makes all the difference.Michael Gove has admitted he is to blame for the feud with Boris Johnson over the Conservative leadership election.
In Mr Gove's first interview since he failed to his bid to lead the party, he took responsibility for rifts with both Mr Johnson and former Prime Minister David Cameron.
Mr Gove had agreed to support Mr Johnson in his leadership bid, but then decided to run himself instead. Supporters of Mr Johnson criticised Mr Gove for his decision.
“The person most to blame is me,” Mr Gove told The Times, “I should either have not have been so quick to say I would definitely support Boris, or, having said that I would support Boris, not have my own wobble.”
Yet although he admitted to taking responsibility for the argument, he said he was unable to fully explain why he decided to run for leader after he said he would not.
“I can understand why I made the decision at the time,” he said.
“In order to explain it fully, you need to go over the entrails of what happened in the past, and I don’t want to do that because no matter how many times you rerun the movie, it has the same ending, which is me driving 100mph and crashing into a brick wall. There is no point.”
Mr Gove, who has returned to the backbenches since losing his leadership bid, also took responsibility for a dispute with David Cameron, who he said he had not spoken recently to but probably "feels annoyed and let down".
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